Don't faint - it's sewing content! Well almost... I am getting ready to start on the costume for my Victoriana party next Sunday. I've been dragging my feet about this for weeks so I think some online accountability is in order. This is your official costume progress spam warning!

I'm reviving the 1870s Black & White Bustle ensemble I started in *goes to look it up* - geez 2006! That is embarrassing. Well better late than never, right?

When last this project saw the light of day I had just finished the skirt which I've posted a pic of to refresh the collective memory. So next step is the bodice, which will be made using Truly Victorian #405. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to decorate with laces and trims, I'll figure that out along the way. So I just cleaned my room, read through the pattern, put on my newly finished dore corset and took measurements. Exciting no? Next step is the mock up.

I have a question for you bustle people out there though. The directions don't mention it but should I pipe any seams? I know that is common in the 1860s, had it become unfashionable by the 1870s or was it left off the pattern for simplicity in construction. I love the look of a piped seam but I don't want to make my life more difficult for no reason. Especially since I'm trying to make this bodice in less than a week. Thoughts oh LJ Oracle?

I LOVE the back of that TV pattern, but I really dislike the front. I was thinking of getting it just for the back, and drafting out my own front. Let me know how the directions go!

Also, I just checked all the photos of extant garments between 1870-1876. Out of about 3,000 photos, I'd say 80% of them had piping in the shoulder seam. I'd vote you do it.

I'm currently working on a few bustle gowns for myself (a cotton practice one, a cheap silk practice one, and the expensive silk one), plus 4 other bustle gowns for an 1873 wedding in May. Every dress they picked as inspiration had piping, as did the one I'm reproduced, had piping on the shoulder seams.

Yay!! A bustle! I'm excited :DI don't think you need to pipe the seams, but the 1870s loved trim, so if you want to go for it. But if you don't then leave it off.I think it would be pretty snazzy with contrast piping, ooh... or black and white stripe that was cut on the bias... but without will look nice, too.Love that bodice.Man, now I want to make a bustle gown :o

I made this pattern a few times. Twice "as pictured" (daytime version but with contrasting trims/binding on sleeves, hem, etc) for myself and trystbat. These outfits were seen at the costumecon we all went to in MD in 2009. :) I made it a third time, substituting a basque front and short puff sleeves to make an evening bodice in the same colourway as the day bodice, so I could reuse the skirt from the original outfit for an evening function.

All said & done, I'm pretty happy with the pattern, and TV patterns in general. They're fairly easy to sew, and wonderful as starting points to take off in customised directions. :)

My impression on piping (and this is just a guess) is that it was pretty common in 1870s stuff and then fading away as we head towards the 1880s. The two extant bodices I own, which are 1880s, do not have piping.

I was using this pattern a couple months ago and got it almost done, but had to set it aside to work on my Dickens costume for this month. I thought the pattern went together very easily, but I didn't like the floppy cuffs on it. So I cut it down to made normal size cuffs. I have a tendency to wave my arms too much and with big cuffs I'd either knock things over or catch on the. Or set them down in BBQ sauce. :O